The 'fabulous story' behind Norumbega Tower in Weston

Monday

May 5, 2014 at 5:00 AMMay 5, 2014 at 6:01 AM

Norumbega Tower on the Charles River Reservation is the 'poster child' of the state's Hidden Treasures Preservation Month in May and Sunday I went to Weston to find out why. "It's a fabulous story," Gloria Greis of the Needham Historical Society told me, as the tower was open to the public for the rare occasion.

Sue Scheible The Patriot Ledger @sues_ledger

The often overlooked Norumbega Tower on the Charles River Reservation is the 'poster child' of the state's Hidden Treasures Preservation Month. This video shows Sunday's open house at the Tower.

Sunday I went to Weston to find out more. "It's a fabulous story," Gloria Greis, executive director of the Needham Historical Society, told me, as the tower was open to the public for the rare occasion. Greis had answers for everyone's questions; she has made quite a study of the history.

I climbed the 60-plus steps to the top with Wendy Pearl, preservation planner, of the state Department of Conservation and Recreation, for a view of the river through the budding trees.

In the 1880s, Greis explained, the old, established Protestant communities of Brahmin Boston, were threatened by the waves of immigration of Italians and Irish. So some of the upper class came up with the Leif Erikson story of how the country was discovered by Vikings -- to counter the Columbus-discovered-America legend.

Vikings v.s. Columbus went on for quite a while, long enough for Eben Nelson Horsford to rally the Norse-leaning troops, "very colorful characters," to build Norumbega Tower, where a mythical Norumbega Fort supposedly had existed.

How about the Viking prows on the Longfellow Bridge piers in Cambridge and Viking motifs the Boston financial district?